This invention pertains to textiles and, more particularly, to a process for treating nylon stockings to improve its resistance to running and tearing and enhance other qualities.
Fabrics produced by machines include fabrics knitted from continuous filaments such as ladies' hosiery and the like. Filament fabrics are made of elongated knittable or continuous structure, as distinguished from spun yarn. The continuous filaments are characterized by having a uniform cross section and a smooth surface. One of the difficulties with filamentary knitted materials of fine gauge is that the stitches are susceptible to laddering. For example, in ladies' hosiery, a loop stitch broken at the knee may cause a ladder along the length of the stocking. When hosiery are worn, they are susceptible to lateral tension which tends to weaken and break loop stitches and causes successive stitches to unwind and disengage.
Significantly, nylon stockings and other thin fiber fabrics are very susceptible to running, punctures, snags, wear and damage when they come into contact with finger nails and other abrasive materials such corners of drawers and dressers and other sharp objects. Nylon and other synthetic fibers can also be weakened and damaged by prolonged exposure to heat, sunlight (ultraviolet radiation), rain or body perspiration. When a fiber is severed or damaged, the integrity of the entire fabric is adversely affected and the resulting damage spreads to surrounding areas which generally causes the garment to lose its appeal and effectiveness.
In the past, hosiery was treated to resist runs by spraying the hosiery with adhesive material. However, the adhesive material would form visible patterns and be seen as a blemish on the hosiery, as well as reduces the hosiery's elasticity to a fraction of what it was prior to the spray treatment.
Over the years various techniques have been suggested for improving hosiery, fibers and other textiles, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,784,497; 4,917,920; 4,970,110 and 5,066,521. These prior art techniques have met with varying degrees of success.
Accordingly, an improved treatment which increases the resistance of fabrics and reduces the possibility of fiber rupture without adverse effects is extremely useful and desirable. It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved treatment for nylon and other textiles which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.